Despite the prevalence of knee injuries in netball, a scientific study of factors contributing to injuries finds that changes to the rules such as allowing an extra step on landing would not prevent those injuries.
Dr Leonie Otago recently completed the research for her PhD in the School of Human Movement Studies at The University of Queensland.
During her study, Dr Otago investigated whether allowing an extra step on landing would affect the forces on knees, what types of landing were least stressful on the body and the influence of various factors on the type of knee injuries sustained.
A group of State level netball players were filmed using high speed video cameras while taking a series of high and low passes. The landings were made on force plates so the effect of different landing strategies could be evaluated.
Five different landing conditions were tested. These included the three legal landings consisting of a pivot, a run-on or a two foot landing as well as two alternative landings that allow an extra step after a pivot or an extended run-on.
"The data clearly showed that there were no advantages to be gained from taking an extra step for either the pivot or run-on landing techniques," says Dr Otago.
"We really can't recommend a change in the footwork rules of netball for the purpose of reducing injuries."
"However, the height of a pass does make a difference to the forces exerted on the body. High passes produce a significantly higher braking force and there is the potential for injury depending on the landing technique used."
"The foot position at landing is something that makes a difference and could be coached to players. There is some benefit from landing on the forefoot rather than on the heel."
The pivot technique is one of the most common landing techniques used in netball. In order to reduce the likelihood of injuries, Dr Otago suggests that, "players should land with the knee flexed and the knee should then 'give' on landing to help decrease the effects of the sudden landing force."
A further part of the study examined types of knee injurires sustained during netball games. Injured players were divided into two groups, those who damaged their ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and those who had other injuries.
The data for the study were collected over two years from netball associations throughout Australia. All injuries to those players were examined by a health professional and a detailed medical diagnosis was completed.
The use of bracing and taping, game conditions and grade of match did not affect the type of injury sustained but the existence of previous injury, amount of experience and the month of injury did have an effect.
"Interestingly, ACL injuries occurred over more months - from February to November - whereas other injuries were restricted to months between March and September," says Dr Otago.
Dr Otago is currently a Senior Lecturer in the School of Human Movement & Sport Sciences at the University of Ballarat.
For more information, contact Dr Leonie Otago, (telephone 03 5327 9677) or Jan King at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 1120).
Enquiries can also be directed to communications@mailbox.uq.edu.au
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